


Christmas Caper

by AnotherAuthor



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: All nighter, F/M, I promise, I'll write something better soon, I'm a slut for nerds dating one another, quarantine fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 19,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23431258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherAuthor/pseuds/AnotherAuthor
Summary: The Weasley Family is home for Christmas, and Molly is happy to see most of her children engaged or married. Percy, who is content on his own, and Hermione, who is fine going solo to weddings, end up under the mistletoe. With the spark of a new relationship, how do they keep it a secret when they're trapped in the Burrow?
Relationships: Angelina Johnson/Fred Weasley, Arthur Weasley/Molly Weasley, Fleur Delacour/Bill Weasley, Gabrielle Delacour/George Weasley, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Percy Weasley
Comments: 64
Kudos: 92





	1. Chapter 1

On Christmas Eve, the Golden Trio finally gave up on their Wizard’s Chess tournament when Ron almost fell asleep while defending his queen. As much as his friends teased him for it, it was true that most of the household had been embroiled in Quidditch matches all day, and Ron had been brutally destroyed in terms of Keeping ability by Oliver Wood. 

“Mum will probably barge in and wake us up early, anyhow,” Ron yawned, checking the time. 

“What’s early to you, Ron? Noon? Two in the afternoon?” Hermione laughed, elbowing her best friend. 

“I’ll have you know, I work the night shift almost every weekend. I’m used to sleeping in,” Ron defended himself. Hermione had no doubt that Ron’s night shift schedule at the joke shop was a result of their new employee, Verity Stewart, but chose not to say anything. 

Harry had a different approach. “Getting real busy on the night shift, eh? Hope you’re turning off those security cameras, or Fred and George would have quite the show.” 

“Hey, I won’t have you spreading rumors. If I was seeing anyone - which I’m not - I would have brought them here, wouldn’t I?” Ron turned around, starting to get ready for bed. 

“So, are you implying we could have another guest next Christmas, Won-Won?” Harry stood up and followed Ron, dancing around him and causing Hermione to laugh loudly. 

“Mate, I’m not the one getting married at 22,” he retorted. 

“That didn’t seem like a ‘no,’ Ron,” Hermione joined in on the teasing. 

Ron turned to Hermione, ready to change the argument. 

“Hermione is still single! Can’t we all joke about that?” 

“Ron, how dare you mock my very good friend, Hermione,” Harry said in a very serious tone before breaking into a smile. 

Soon, Ron and Hermione were both laughing as well, and all three said goodnight. It was a nice reminder of their time back at Hogwarts, just staying up late playing board games and talking about their lives. Hermione missed it, with all of them getting so busy in their careers. By next Christmas, she knew that everyone would be in a different place and she wished that she didn’t feel like she was falling so far behind. 

Harry and Ginny had been dating for years, and in the new year, would tie the knot right in the back field at the Burrow. In fact, on the same grounds as the Quidditch match earlier that night. Ron, officially single but definitely not telling all, was exactly the kind of young man who would either find a girl by next Christmas or be matched up by his mother. Hermione was glad to avoid that circus, after their sweet but failed romance in sixth year. It had been the most awkward three weeks of her life, and Harry had never stopped giving her grief over the aborted attempt at joining the Weasley family. But where would Hermione be a year from now? Promoted at the ministry? Still living with Crookshanks in central London? At the Burrow as her parents went skiing? She shook her head, dismissing the thoughts to another year away. 

Hermione slowly descended the stairs of the Burrow. After years of coming to the house, she had gradually figured out that all the Weasley men were intensely deep sleepers. In fact, the only people she risked waking were Gabrielle, George’s fiancée, a known insomniac, and Ginny, who had avoided the Weasley curse of being dead to the world as soon as the sun went down. Fred’s fiancée Angelina was a 50-50 shot, so Hermione watched her step carefully as she went past the third floor. She paused, heard no sounds from inside the room on the left, and continued down. 

She figured a quick cup of tea would soothe her enough to fall asleep, passing by Ginny’s room and hearing her friend’s soft snores from behind the pink door. When she rounded the corner and entered the living room, Hermione was surprised to see anyone still up past 11 p.m. after such an exhausting day, especially when that person was deeply engrossed in a Jane Austen novel.

“Percy?”

Percy had just passed the disastrous first proposal by Mr. Darcy and was trying to hold in a gasp when he heard his name from the stairwell. Looking up, he saw Hermione, still in her purple Christmas sweater and jeans, evidently surprised to see him. 

“Miss Granger?” He echoed her surprised tone.

“Do I have to get you out of that habit again, Percy? It took months for the first time to get you to stop calling me that,” Hermione whined. She continued to the kitchen, cheating with her wand to make a quick cup of peppermint tea. “What are you reading, another Ministry file?”

“Actually, it’s an obscure Muggle book Dad bought at a sale last year. It’s called  _ Pride and Prejudice, _ ” Percy said, showing Hermione the crinkled cover while keeping his hand inside the book to save his page. “It’s quite good.”

Hermione snorted, “ _ Pride and Prejudice  _ isn’t obscure, Percy, it’s one of the most famous books in the Muggle world.”

Defensively, Percy held the book closer to him, pushing up his horned rim reading glasses as he did so. She couldn’t believe that he still wore the same glasses that he had when they were in school. “Well, I wouldn’t know that, would I?”

Hermione sat down in the armchair nearby Percy’s couch, looking at him with an expression asking permission and receiving a casual shrug from the middle Weasley child. She sipped her tea again and put her feet up on the coffee table. 

“I’ve been meaning to ask, what happened at that meeting with Shacklebolt last Friday?” Percy asked, brushing his fingers through his coppery hair. “The one you had to cancel lunch for.”

Hermione frowned slightly, apologizing, “Sorry again about lunch. You know our Friday lunches are the highlights of my week. We do get a fair amount of work done.”

“You’re not a bad conversationalist, either. I do occasionally consider ourselves friends,” Percy chuckled. 

“Err...of course,” Hermione grinned awkwardly back. 

She knew that Percy definitely enjoyed the lunches, seeing as he usually ate at his desk, in his father’s office, or on occasion, not at all. Their Friday lunches had become a bit of a tradition, starting out as a committee assignment and then becoming a comfortable routine as the two old friends shared bits and pieces of what was going on in their lives, debated over bills currently in the Wizengamot, started a Muggle literature club, and occasionally, went to a bakery for dessert. 

“The Minister asked me to go visit Hogwarts with a message from the Ministry. McGonagall is always a bit more receptive when I’m the one sent over,” Hermione added. 

“He seems to forget I was once Head Boy, and a Gryffindor,” Percy rolled his eyes. 

“I was Head Girl,” Hermione replied. “And I think everyone knows you were almost a hatstall.”

Percy squinted his eyes, sitting up and putting the book down on the table before replying to Hermione’s not-so-subtle comment.

“I should never have mentioned that to you,” he shook his head. “I do believe that conversation is why we banned wine from Friday lunch.”

“Don’t worry Perce, I’m confident in saying you wouldn’t have made a decent Slytherin, the Hat probably just wanted to tease you, given you were the third Weasley in less than five years,” Hermione laughed. “I’m a near-hatstall too, and you witnessed that!”

“But Ravenclaw and Gryffindor aren’t that different,” Percy bemoaned. “The Hat threatened to put me in every single house except Hufflepuff. Basically, I’m an intelligent, ambitious and brave individual who is absolutely shit at loyalty.” 

“Sounds about right,” Hermione laughed, causing Percy to hold up the book like he was going to throw it at her. “So, the book! What part are you at? Should we add it to the list?”

“It’s so bloody romantic,” Percy admitted. “I’ll probably read ahead before you get a copy.”

Hermione laughed, knowing Percy to be the ultimate bookworm. “And for the new year,” Hermione asked, “any goals?”

“Well, I suppose I’d like to finish my bills on broom regulation before the Quidditch World Cup,” Percy said, looking up to remember his to-do list. “I’m trying to get Shacklebolt to put me on the list of dignitaries for the event, because my boss already said he’s visiting Greece that week.”

“Oh, and I need to buy a few new suits, since I’ll be going to so many weddings,” he added.

“Hard to believe Ginny and Harry are getting married,” Hermione said, smiling sadly. 

Percy looked confused, but was always game for a change in the conversation. “I suppose it is, you’re all so young,” Percy replied, crossing his left leg over his knee and frowning.

“You aren’t that much older than the rest of us, you’re only 3 years older than I am,” Hermione reminded him. Percy was definitely more casual than he had been during their time at Hogwarts, but he never lost that uppity attitude.

“3 years wiser and more experienced,” he proclaimed, sitting up with a smirk on his face. 

“Wiser?” Hermione scoffed. “I can see how you never ended up in Hufflepuff.”

“I do seem to recall getting two more O.W.L.s than you.”

“Only because divination is a joke, and I didn’t have time to fit in other classes,” Hermione muttered.

After a few moments of silence, Percy returned to their previous conversation.

“So, are you...er…bringing anyone to the wedding?”

“No, I couldn’t think of anyone else to bring that Harry and Ginny weren’t already inviting. I can’t believe how many guests there will be!” Hermione rambled.

“Nervous about seeing Viktor Krum again?” Percy asked cautiously. 

Hermione and Viktor had broken up two years earlier, deciding long distance was always going to be too much and neither was willing to move. Hermione had gotten quite tipsy at Friday lunch that week and declared herself to be a spinster forever. Percy had to Apparate her back to her flat that night before confiscating her owl to prevent any wayward messages to Bulgaria. 

“He’s married,” Hermione smiled wistfully. “And we’re good friends now.” 

“What about you? Any secret girlfriend you’ll pop up with?” 

“I’m, err….” Percy hesitated. “I’m content.”

“Haven’t got a cat, though,” Percy added, causing a raucous laughter on both parts. Hermione was happy to be down in the living room with Percy, as tired as she was getting. He made good company, more than most people assumed he did. 


	2. Chapter 2

Usually their silences were comfortable, Percy thought. But right now felt a bit more awkward. He immediately blamed himself, knowing that he shouldn’t have forayed into the topic of romantic entanglement. It was the blasted book he was reading. 

“So, work at the Ministry has been going well?”

Hermione looked at Percy oddly, shaking her head like he’d spoken some foreign language. Eventually, she shrugged and said, “Oh, nothing new. Just ready to head back after the holidays.” 

“Right, right.” 

Percy twiddled his thumbs, perking up when Hermione spoke again. 

“What about you?”

“Transportation is still transportation. Might be getting a new patent for broomsticks, but that’s all rumors right now,” Percy nodded, thinking about the most recent file that had come across his desk. “I’ll tell you when you learn more.” 

“It sure is nice, being back at the Burrow,” Hermione jumped in, changing topics rapidly again. “Don’t you think?”

The corner of Hermione’s lips turned up and she raised an eyebrow, looking over at Percy. She asked the question with all seriousness, knowing that Percy sometimes found holidays with his family difficult. 

“Definitely crowded,” Percy responded. “I guess it’s nice to see everyone.”

The pair was silent for a while, looking around the room as if they were trying to find another topic to discuss. Percy suddenly stood up suddenly and his voice cracked slightly as he said, “I’ll get you another cup of tea.” 

He grabbed the empty teacup from Hermione’s hands and walked towards the kitchen. Part of him felt he should have just excused himself for bed once the conversation got awkward, but the other part of him felt guilty for Hermione missing the festivities earlier in the day. She probably wanted the conversation as much, if not more, than he did. 

“Percy, let me -” 

Percy turned around to answer Hermione, not realizing how closely she had gotten. She ran into him, causing him to tumble backwards a few steps under the archway. He managed to keep the teacup in his hand, but had to stabilize himself by grabbing her shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered, not meeting his eyes.

Percy didn’t reply, as his eyes glanced upwards. His mother had forced him to spend all afternoon decorating the house, and he hadn’t been very careful in where he’d put all the decorations, particularly the plants. Before he could avert his eyes, Hermione followed his glance upwards and saw the mistletoe hanging between them.

If the silence before had been awkward, now was unbearable. As far as Percy could tell, an eternity had passed since either of them had spoken. In reality, it was probably a few seconds. Hermione looked up at him, but didn’t seem to be waiting for him to speak. Her brown eyes certainly had some kind of a question behind them, but Percy couldn’t tell what. That was usually her expression when they got a meal, or just met up around the Ministry, and he had yet to figure out what it meant. Blinking a few times and opening his mouth, Percy prepared to speak when Hermione finally said something. 

“Your mother really goes all out in decorating, doesn’t she?”

Percy laughed, “She certainly does. We don’t have to follow any of those...err...archaic traditions, though.” 

He rubbed the back of his neck, thinking about how he could easily step into the kitchen and make a cup of tea. For some reason, he stayed in the same place, only a few inches away from his younger brother’s best friend. 

“I’ve heard it’s bad luck not to follow tradition,” Hermione said. 

Percy couldn’t tell if she was joking, and looked at her trying to appear as confused as he felt. Hermione answered the question for him, leaning forward and pecking him quickly on the lips. Her kiss was soft, and ended as soon as it started, with both parties still standing under the archway. The silence was now unbearable. 

Percy took a deep breath, and stepped lightly through the doorway to place the teacup on a table. He looked back at Hermione with wide and cautious eyes, but an unmoving expression.

“Perce-” Hermione began, cut off when Percy placed his hand on the side of her face and kissed her in return. It was slow and soft, spreading warmth through his body to the tips of his fingers. His hand rested below her ear, caressing her soft cheek. Hermione wrapped her arm around Percy’s back, pulling them closer until he could hear the beating of her heart against his chest. Hermione pushed her other hand into his red, curly hair, tugging it slightly. She tasted a bit like peppermint, Percy thought. That must have been the tea. 

Their breath grew more hurried, and the pair pulled apart slightly, resting their foreheads together. Percy’s thoughts were racing. How could he do this? Hermione was his friend, and she’d kissed him as a Christmas joke and he’d gone way too far. Then again, they were still standing in the archway underneath the mistletoe. Percy had no idea what to think. His other hand lifted up to touch Hermione’s neck, gently but firmly. His thumb traced circles on her jaw, but Percy didn’t seem to control what his hands did anymore. His light blue eyes stared blankly at Hermione’s brown ones, and he waited for her to say something. A part of him that usually hidden away deep down but was now bursting to the surface hoped that she would just kiss him again. 

Before anything could happen, footsteps could be heard coming down the creaking stairs on the other side of the room. As if snapped out of a hypnotic trance, Hermione and Percy jumped a foot away from one another and out of the vicinity of the mistletoe. Hermione snatched the teacup and hid away in the kitchen, leaving Percy to address whomever appeared at the bottom of the stairs. A large belly and flowing blonde hair revealed a very tired Fleur, who walked - perhaps waddled was a more appropriate term - towards the kitchen.

“Hello, Percy,” Fleur yawned. “Shouldn’t you be getting to sleep?”

“I was just -” 

“Reading. I know, I know,” Fleur continued past him. “Hermione! Could you make me a cup of tea as well? The baby is demanding something, maybe it’s that.”

“Of course, Fleur.” Percy heard Hermione’s voice in the kitchen. A clinking must have been her grabbing another cup from the cabinet above the sink and readying the second cup of tea. Fleur thanked her profusely and continued back towards the stairs, with a cup of tea in her hand. 

“You don’t need help with anything, do you Fleur?” Percy said, still standing in the same place he had been several minutes earlier. He felt like he couldn’t move until Fleur disappeared and he could figure out what the hell had just happened with Hermione. His mind was still racing with things he needed to say, likely starting with an apology for how forward he had been. 

“No, thank you. I’ve gotten very used to these stairs. See you in the morning,” Fleur yawned again, starting her trek upstairs. The creaking of the steps faded away, and after a few minutes, Percy heard a door shut several floors up. 


	3. Lol my favorite chapter

Percy jumped when he felt cold hands grab his waist. Turning around, Hermione was behind him, smiling nervously. 

“We should talk,” Percy said, his breathing picking up again and his voice sounding raspier than usual.

“Probably somewhere with less risk of an audience,” Hermione replied, still moving closer to Percy. It was maddening, he thought, to be able to smell the shampoo she used in her hair from even a foot away. Percy nodded, trying to figure out where in the house they could go. 

Hermione seemed to have figured out a solution, grabbing Percy’s hand and led him upstairs, casting Silencing charms on plenty of the steps. He realized they were probably heading to his bedroom, and he contemplated silently how long it had been since he had redecorated in there. Whispering, Hermione told Percy that Gabrielle and Ginny were both likely to wake up and she didn’t want to be blamed for ruining a good night’s sleep. 

“Good idea,” he replied, assisting once they got to the third floor by casting a Silencing charm on his bedroom door. “Don’t want any eavesdroppers.”

As soon as they were inside, Percy and Hermione stared at one another from across the small bedroom. Percy tried to fix his glasses, which were apparently skewed after their snogging session downstairs, before taking them off and folding them on his desk. He broke their stare and sat down in his desk chair, resting his head in his hands.

“We kissed,” Hermione said, breaking the silence.

“I’m so sorry,” Percy grimaced, mortified by his eagerness to kiss her again. 

“You’re sorry?” Hermione asked, her voice unsure and shaking slightly. 

“What I did was completely inappropriate, and I sincerely apologize,” Percy looked up at her, feeling it was only right to look her in the eye as he said it. “My behavior was disgraceful and I beg for your forgiveness. You have every right to be disgusted with me.”

“Disgusted? It wasn’t a bad kiss, Percy,” Hermione laughed before turning serious again.

“No, but I practically held you in place and...well, you know,” Percy places his head back in his hands. “You must hate me.”

“Perce- Percy, look at me,” Hermione demanded. She was looking around his bedroom, which still had the light brown and gold walls as they’d had for as long as Percy could remember. There were piles of books neatly stacked against the walls, and a few framed pictures of Egypt. 

Percy was hesitant to meet his friend’s eyes, but did as she said. Hermione had her hands on her hips and looked almost frustrated with him. 

“I kissed  _ you _ , Percy. I’m worried you hate me!” 

Percy shook his head in disbelief, almost shouting, “How could I hate you? I love you!”

Immediately, Percy wished he had a Time Turner hidden away in his pocket to undo that very moment. He would have tackled himself out of the chair and gagged his past self, the paradoxes be damned. A secret he’d kept for God knows how long was out and it could never be hidden away again. Percy stammered, looking for something else to say and obscure his confession. 

Hermione walked towards him and placed her fingers on his lips. Percy froze and looked up at her. 

“You love me,” Hermione repeated slowly. 

“I...” Percy knew he couldn’t get away with any sort of a lie right now. Especially not when Hermione was standing so close to him. “I may have certain...romantic feelings for you,” he began, quickly adding, “That I do not expect you to reciprocate and I will try to keep our friendship as normal as possible.”

“Did you ever consider I might feel the same?” Hermione asked, placing her hands on each side of Percy’s face. “I love you, Percy.”

“Oh,” Percy said, his going deeper and taking on a husky tone. “Since when?”

“You were quite a handsome prefect,” she whispered, leaning closer to him, close enough that he could feel the heat of her breath on his cheek. “I did say I loved our Friday lunches, so I suppose sometime after that.” 

Percy took a deep breath, asking the question immediately at the forefront of his mind. The question he probably should have started the incident with. 

“May I kiss you, Hermione?”

“I think I’d be disappointed if you didn’t,” she whispered shyly.

Percy pulled Hermione into his lap and captured her mouth in a kiss that obliterated every thought in his mind. The worries of consequences or the future evaporated and he had no wish for the kiss to end. Hermione moaned softly into his mouth, pushing Percy further, as his hands trailed her waist and rubbed her lower back. He missed slightly the second time they kissed, but managed to make it back to her mouth, both of them laughing as it happened. 

When Hermione slipped her hands under his sweater and Percy whimpered, refusing to break away from the kiss but matching the motion by tugging at Hermione’s purple sweater. 

Pausing only to take breaths, Percy managed to get out half a question, “Do...you…want”

Hermione answered, “Yes,” in a huff. 

Percy regretfully pulled away, finishing his question. “I really need to make sure how far you want to go. Do you want to…” he hesitated, trying to find the right words.

“Have sex?” Hermione said, dipped her head down and placing the most tender kisses along Percy’s jawline. 

“That’s one way to say it,” Percy said, struggling to hold back until Hermione answered. 

“Yes, do you?” 

“Fuck yes,” Percy laughed, standing up and pushing Hermione back onto his bed. 

He was grateful for the Silencing Charm he’d already placed on his door as the springs in his mattress squealed out. They scrambled to hide under the covers, kicking off their shoes in the process. Hermione pushed his sweater up, and Percy discarded it on the floor with a toss. Her hands traced his lean chest, which was lightly covered with reddish hair. Dipping down to kiss her again, Percy again tugged at Hermione’s sweater until she wriggled out of it and pushed it off of the bed. He leaned back and took a good look at Hermione, who was panting underneath him. Her skin was smooth and light, but not nearly as pale as his own. Gently, as if praying at a shrine, Percy let his hands drift across her torso, playing with the edge of her dark blue bra and slipping his fingers underneath the wire frame. 

With a huff, Hermione sat up and grabbed one of Percy’s hands and put it on the bra’s clasp on her back. Her arms wrapped around his neck and Percy moaned as she kissed him deeply and passionately. Distracted, he started fiddling with the clasp, finally getting it loose. He began nipping at her neck lightly, allowing Hermione to slip off the bra and add it to the two sweaters on the ground. Percy’s hands returned to Hermione’s front, feeling her breasts and squeezing her nipples slightly. Hermione breathed Percy’s name into his ear, dragging her nails down his spine and sending shivers through his body. 

Her hands reached his waist, and she began fiddling with his zipper and reaching down into his boxers, which were quite tight at the moment. Percy reached down to help, pulling down his pants and muttering for Hermione to do the same. His zipper was caught and Percy didn’t want to yank too hard, or he might embarrass himself. If he hadn't insisted on pushing Hermione’s hands away, he might have finished in his boxers, he thought woefully.

Hermione, who had slipped easily out of her clothes, returned her hands to Percy’s jeans, rubbing his palms as she moved them out of the way. Blushing as red as his hair, Percy took in the beautiful woman in bed with him. He could see she was already fairly wet, and began tracing her entrance lazily with his left hand as she pulled his jeans over his hips.

“Percy, not yet,” she giggled. “You’re still dressed.”

“Can’t help it, ‘Mione, you’re too pretty,” he whispered back, teasing her with a finger and then a second. The noises she made were music to his ears, and he was disappointed when she moved slightly away from him to lie down. 

They added their clothes to the growing pile on the floor, looking shyly at one another under the covers. Resting their heads on the pillows, they took one another’s faces into their hands and whispered to one another. 

“Remember,” Percy said, kissing Hermione between every word, “when...you…brought me...to the…British Museum?”

“Mhm,” Hermione reached down, running her fingers through his chest hair and pausing to trace his nipples. 

“You were wearing a green dress that day, telling my all about airplanes and artwork and dinosaurs...I wanted to bring you back to my flat and make love to you that night,” he whispered.

“Remember after that, when we got ice cream and walked down to the river and talked about buying a ship and sailing around the world,” Hermione kissed his collarbone and he squeezed her waist against him.

“I would have gone back to your flat and fucked you,” Hermione purred into his ear. 

“Remember last Easter...Hermione,” Percy stopped. “I don’t want to remember all the times I hid my feelings. I want to fuck you now.” 

“If you still want to, that is.”

She nodded, sliding towards him and wrapping a leg around his waist. Percy whispered a spell and the lights in the room dimmed. He traced Hermione’s waist with his fingertips, and eased himself over her over the course of several kisses. While she laid back, her hands scampered down to his….God, it was weird to imagine the sentence, ‘Hermione grabbed his cock,’ but that was exactly what was happening. 

Percy couldn’t believe he was here in bed with Hermione Granger, having sex with the brightest witch of the age and the most brilliant person he had ever known. Her brown, curly hair spread around her head and Percy looked at her like he was a man who lived in a cave and exited, seeing the sun for the first time in years. He eased her hands out of the way, and he began teasing her entrance and rubbing his thumb on the nub at the top. She wriggled beneath him, moaning, “Percy.” 

“Do you have protection?” He managed to get out, despite his excitement. 

“I’ll cast the charm,” she said, fumbling for her wand on his bedside table and managing to cast it from memory. 

“You’re sure-” he began, before Hermione just guided him into her and told him to fuck her. It was tight and awkward at first, but once he built up a rhythm, they both began breathing heavier and moaning as if they were taking turns. Hermione repeated over and over that she loved him, and Percy responded in kind, trying unsuccessfully to slow down. In and out, in and out, Percy willed away every time he had been afraid to confess his feelings. He was in love with Hermione, and she understood him like no other person ever had. She felt so warm around him, and they fit together like a puzzle piece, like a sword in its sheath. 

He wished he could do this forever, but he could feel it building up and kissed Hermione roughly and open-mouthed before releasing. She was almost there, and he focused on her, rubbing and nipping at the right parts until she shouted his name loudly and her body shook in his arms. She clenched around him, and Percy kissed her, trying to quiet her down despite the silencing charms on his room. 

When he pulled out, he fell on the bed next to her, their limbs still entangled. They stared at one another as their breathing slowed down, kissing intermittently as if the dream would end if they didn’t. Percy finally broke the silence, whispering, “I love you, Hermione.” 

“I love you, Percy,” she replied, the words feeling comfortable as they rolled off her tongue. For the first time all day, both of them felt tired and ready to sleep. Hermione said something about needing to leave early, or else his mother would kill them both, but Percy was too busy nuzzling into Hermione’s shoulder to focus on the next morning. 

“Stay with me,” he murmured, letting his hand drift down, pulling them as close together as they could possibly be. 

From one breath to the next, they drifted off together, hoping to meet again in their dreams. 


	4. Chapter 4

It was still dark out when Hermione woke up, and she momentarily forgot where she was. She heard someone coming down the stairs, and figured it was probably Charlie going for a run. Ginny had complained about his 4 AM jog for the past week. Looking around, Hermione took in her surroundings. The room was a bit smaller than Ginny’s, and the bed was bigger than it was supposed to be, and it was so warm. Blinking wearily, Hermione rolled over and suddenly remembered where she was and who she was in bed with. 

In the night, Percy had curled up behind her, his arm lazily draped over her body. He looked younger than his 25 years when he slept, Hermione thought. She still couldn’t believe what had happened last night. She’d had a crush on the middle Weasley brother for ages. First, as a young girl at Hogwarts, when a mature prefect was leagues beyond any of the boys in her year. All the first years either had a crush on him or Oliver Wood, she remembered. Most of them had been for Oliver Wood.

That was the flight of fancy, Hermione thought, smiling as she remembered how disappointed she was when Percy Weasley had graduated from Hogwarts. She had been over him by the time he returned for the Yule Ball and danced with her in his official capacity as Ministry representative. He’d barely made eye contact with her, but Hermione remembered he was a marvelous dancer. Then, when she was a bit older and saw Percy return to the family, despite their estrangement, and fight at the Department of Mysteries. He’d been a wreck after Ginny was hurt in the battle, and when he and Hermione sat through the night in the hospital wing, it was the first time they’d truly talked. Hermione had forgotten about Percy for the next few years, indulging in brief relationships with a few other boys at Hogwarts and rekindling her romance with Viktor. It wasn’t until she reconnected with Percy Weasley in her first job at the Ministry that she realized how perfect they were together. 

The final and most powerful crush had been going the past two years, when she and Percy had started getting lunch together every Friday. It was far from flirtation at the start, talking almost exclusively about Ministry work. But having a friend at work was a wonderful improvement, and it was part of routine by the end of the assignment. She’d always hoped Percy would make the step from Friday lunches to Friday dates, and had wondered whether she should say something. She’d wondered if Percy saw her as a sister, like all the other Weasley brothers did. Based on last night, she could certainly say otherwise.

His mouth was slightly open, and his hair was messy, probably a result of her running her hands through it the night before. It had been pretty good sex, Hermione thought. Percy wasn’t quite as classically handsome as Bill or the twins, nor as rugged as Charlie or Ron. He had a slender nose, and soft cheeks, a combination of the two, really. His lips were a bit swollen, probably from all the snogging the night before. They hadn’t managed to hash out the details besides confessing their love, but she hoped this wasn’t the last time she woke up next to Percy Weasley.

More aware, Hermione realized it was quite fortuitous that Charlie had woken her up early enough to sneak out of the room. While she would have loved to stay curled up against Percy, she didn’t want Molly to come in and wake her son up in a few hours only to find Hermione naked and in bed with him. Hopefully, nobody had noticed she wasn’t in the spare bed in Ginny’s room, she thought, slightly worried now. 

“Percy,” she pushed him, rudely waking him up. “Percy, I need to go.”

Hermione giggled watching Percy frown, wrinkle his nose, and open his eyes a bit bewildered before realizing who he was lying next to. Percy, only half-awake smiled widely.

“Hermione,” he said, his voice wobbly and not yet all there. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas,” she replied quickly, sliding out of the toasty bed and feeling the uncomfortably cold air. “I have to go before someone catches us.”

“But it’s Christmas, Hermione,” Percy said, sitting up enough to wrap his arms around her and pull her back into bed. He wasn’t a Quidditch player, but Percy was quite strong as he peppered her with kisses and began to move down past her navel and below her waist to…

“Percy!” Hermione exclaimed.

“It’s a Christmas present,” he smiled up at her, still more asleep than awake. He tried to kiss her down there again, burying his nose between her thighs. Hermione grabbed his head and pulled him upwards apologizing.

“That sounds lovely, it really does,” Hermione kissed him on the forehead. “But let’s save it for next time.”

“There’s going to be a next time?” Percy laughed, rolling back over in bed and looking dreamily up at Hermione. She genuinely couldn’t tell how aware he was, or if he thought he was still sleeping. 

“We’ll talk later, I promise. I love you,” Hermione began grabbing clothes off the floor and putting them on in the dark room. 

The sweater felt a bit loose, but she rolled up the sleeves to make it look like she had been working on paperwork in case there was someone downstairs. Percy was almost asleep again when she picked up her socks, shoes, and underwear and peeked out the door to make sure nobody was around. Whispering silencing charms as she walked carefully down the staircase, Hermione couldn’t stop smiling when she thought about Percy, still in a love-drunk haze upstairs. Unfortunately, Hermione wasn’t the only one woken by Charlie’s early run. 

Arthur Weasley had already been awake when Charlie left the house, wanting to have a quick chat about his second eldest potentially moving home from Eastern Europe. Charlie had mentioned working out his finances through the Ministry, and didn’t want the conversation to reach his mother’s ears until everything was set down. Making himself a cup of coffee using a newfangled Muggle device one of the kids had given him for his birthday, Arthur was seated at the kitchen table when he thought he heard somebody coming down the stairs. He could definitely feel some charms being cast, and thought it was nice that Charlie was trying to avoid waking his younger siblings. 

“Charlie, son, come out here! I’ve got something else to tell you,” Arthur whispered. 

In the stairwell, Hermione froze. If she didn’t go down, Arthur might come investigate and ask questions of why she was coming down from the third floor to the second. If she did go down, he might wonder why she was fully dressed. Accepting the first as the worst of the consequences, Hermione transfigured her jeans into a pair of blue cotton pajama pants and walked into the kitchen.

“Not Charlie, sorry Arthur,” she whispered. “I’m just up to...use the bathroom. I prefer the one upstairs.”

That was a decent explanation, she figured, knowing the only bathrooms were on the first floor and the fourth floor of the house. 

Arthur waved her over and offered some coffee from his machine, and Hermione politely refused. He was very animated, explaining all the mechanics when he suddenly looked confused. 

“Your sweater,” Arthur started. 

Hermione realized she had been wearing her sweater the day before, making it seem less plausible that she had been sleeping just now. She quickly answered him, “It was a bit cold so I grabbed what I wore yesterday. Molly really does knit the best sweaters.”

Arthur still looked perplexed, looking at the sweater and back at Hermione before bidding her goodnight and taking his coffee downstairs. 

“Merry Christmas, Hermione. I’ll...err...see you at breakfast.”

“Merry Christmas.” Hermione waited until Arthur had gone fully downstairs before running back to the staircase and sneaking into Ginny’s room. Unfortunately, a light turned on and Ginny was sitting up on her bed with a smirk on her face. 


	5. Chapter 5

“Explain,” the youngest Weasley said, pointing at the bed next to her, which was unruffled with Hermione’s luggage still on it unopened. Hermione groaned, realizing that Ginny, the only Weasley who was a light sleeper, had probably known she was out of bed from the second Charlie came down the stairs.

“Oh my God, no,” Ginny laughed, covering her mouth as she looked at Hermione’s sweater. Hermione glanced down, realizing what Arthur must have noticed in the kitchen.

She wasn’t wearing a purple sweater with a large “H” on it, as she had been at the Quidditch match yesterday. Now, it was a larger, red sweater with a “P” knitted into the front. 

“It isn’t what you think,” Hermione started, before being startled by somebody behind her. 

Ginny squealed and Hermione turned around to see Percy, in his boxers, holding her bra. 

“NO,” Ginny gasped, looking between the two of them. The messy hair, Hermione’s incorrect jumper, Percy in his underwear, the blue bra hanging out of his hand. It was all so obvious. 

“Ginny! You’re awake!” Percy exclaimed, caught like a deer in headlights. “I was just ...Hermione was….” 

He shoved the bra into Hermione’s hands and bolted up the stairs like a cat away from a vacuum. Ginny almost rolled off of her own bed laughing, and Hermione, mortified, shut the door behind her. 

“This isn’t what you think,” Ginny laughed back at Hermione. “Oh my God.” 

“Ginny, please don’t tell anyone,” Hermione whispered desperately, already casting silencing charms on the door behind her in case Arthur Weasley was coming up for another cup of coffee. Oh God, did he know? Had he figured it out too?

“You slept with Percy. My brother, Percy Weasley. Deputy Head of Pencil-Pushing and Ministry Memos, Percy Weasley-” Ginny couldn’t contain herself, covering her face with her pillow as tears started coming down her cheeks. 

Hearing the door on the third floor shut, Hermione finally shoved her luggage off the bed, tossed the bra into the pile and laid down on the bed. 

“Do I even want to know?” Ginny asked, wiping away tears. 

“I didn’t plan this, you know,” Hermione started. “Not that I didn’t mean to, it was just...we’ve been really good friends for a while and it sort of just happened, and…”

“Are you two an item now? How long has this been going on?” Ginny hopped over to Hermione’s bed and began prodding her for answers.

“There was mistletoe, and we both said some stuff, and then we went to his room,” Hermione said, pausing only when Ginny covered her ears. Laughing, Hermione pulled Ginny’s hands away and continued, “I think we’re dating, or together, whatever you call it. We didn’t really talk about it, so I don’t want anyone to know until we’ve decided what we’re calling ourselves.”

“I’m sure you were quite busy doing other things,” Ginny giggled, causing Hermione to blush.

“So, you’re coming to the wedding together,” Ginny continued speaking, despite Hermione’s pleas to just go back to sleep.

“I didn’t even think about that yet, Ginny. Maybe we’ll just stay a secret as long as possible.”

“Oh, no you don’t. Neither of you are bringing a plus one, and the longer you wait, the worse it will be. I won’t tell anyone,” she laughed, “for now. But I’m not keeping this secret forever.”

“So you won’t tell Harry tomorrow? Or Ron, I didn’t even think about how he might react,” Hermione asked. 

“I won’t. But I should ask, does anyone else know?”

“Your dad saw my jumper,” Hermione said, turning pale.

“MY DAD,” Ginny screamed, making Hermione infinitely grateful for the Silencing Charms. 

“I’ll just tell him it was a laundry mix-up! That I must have grabbed the wrong sweater in the laundry! 

“I don’t think you’ll have a chance to talk to him,” Ginny cried out, “he won’t make eye contact with you for ages! You’ve got a hickey, too!”

Hermione shoved her face into the pillow, and Ginny finally relented, adding “I’m sure you need the sleep.”


	6. Chapter 6

_ Christmas Morning _

Pots were banging in the kitchen as Molly Weasley prepared breakfast for her growing brood of children and their friends, but she loved a crowd. In the stove, there were two quiches baking, not to mention the mountain of eggs, pancakes, and bacon forming on the table. A team had formed in the kitchen, and as each person came down, they were gifted their jumper to wear for the day. Fleur and Bill had wrestled the girls into their matching jumpers. Victoire loved her light green jumper, but Dominique found her own a bit too scratchy and cried until Molly whipped out her wand to transfigure the wool into cotton. 

“I won’t let her take it off,” Molly insisted. “It took me days to plan out a ‘D,’ it’s quite difficult to add new letters, you know, on such a small jumper.” 

Hermione and Ginny were setting the table, which had been extended to fit the entire family. Ginny had made it quite clear when she was younger that dark blue was her favorite color for a jumper, so that is precisely what she was wearing. Hermione looked quite nice in her red jumper, although Molly could see a slight error in the stitching in the shoulder. Not as if anyone else would notice, she thought. “I had extra orders this year, anyhow,” she said to nobody in particular. 

“Girls,” Molly said, stepping behind Arthur, who was busy at work making hot cocoa and trying not to spill any on his brown jumper (the color of which Molly had chosen precisely because her husband had spilled hot cocoa on his last four jumpers and she refused to see another one stained on Christmas Day). “Could you bring everyone else’s jumpers up to their rooms? I’d like to take a family photo once everyone is awake.”

“Yes, Mum,” Ginny replied, grabbing Hermione’s arm mischievously. 

“Oh, and Hermione,” Molly waited for Hermione to look back at her. “I have your jumper from last year in the box as well. Percy said he found it in the bathroom this morning.”

Molly didn’t notice, but Arthur coughed loudly and tried to avoid looking at anyone else as he stepped out of the room. His cheeks were bright red and he quickly hid himself away in the pantry as he dealt with a new piece of information. 

“I must have left it when I took a shower last night,” Hermione said confidently. “Where is Percy?”

Beside Hermione, Ginny looked like she was going to combust. Molly eyed her daughter suspiciously, but didn’t think of any reason behind it other than that some prank must have been pulled by Ginny in the upstairs bathroom. 

“He was the first one up, so I sent him over to Amos Diggory with a few gifts for the family. He promised to be back in time for breakfast, although Amos can be quite a talker if he’s in the mood,” Molly replied. “Did you sleep well dear?”

“Of course,” Hermione answered, too quickly. 

“You look quite rejuvenated this morning. Nothing like a good night of beauty sleep!”

Ginny looked as though she might explode as Hermione politely thanked Molly and dragged her friend out of the kitchen by force. Molly was simply happy to see the two of them spending time together, since she felt Hermione spent far too much time at work. It was wonderful to see Hermione finding ways to relieve stress, Molly thought to herself. 

Charlie, Gabrielle, and Angelina were in the living room, working on stacking everyone’s gifts in separate piles. With all the children being adults now, there were at least 15 gifts for each person, and an entire mountain for Victoire and Dominique. 

“I hope I didn’t wake you guys this morning,” Charlie said, pointing them in the direction of the box of jumpers Molly had knitted. “Gabrielle mentioned I came down the stairs a bit loud.” 

Before Ginny could reply, Hermione jumped in, “That’s alright, Charlie, I fell back asleep pretty quickly. We both did.”

“I do hear a Silencing Charm works wonders on that staircase,” Ginny slyly added in, causing Hermione to turn away in order to prevent anyone else from seeing her blush. 

Once they were in the stairwell, Hermione whispered angrily at Ginny, “You need to play it cool, or else everyone will find out!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Hermione,” Ginny said innocently. “I haven’t said anything about you shagging-”

Fred and George appeared on the landing in front of them. 

“What’s this about shagging?” Fred said, grinning as always. 

“We’re testing out a new version of the Extendable Ear,” George said, pointing at a small, flesh-coloured object on the steps. “We can hear everything.” 

“How long has that been there?” Hermione asked belligerently. 

“Just this morning,” George answered. “Hoping to catch some hot Christmas gossip.” 

“We were just talking about a book, so you’d better check your Extendable Ear,” Ginny replied. “Here are your jumpers from Mum.”

Ginny pulled two red jumpers, an “F” and a “G” and threw them at her brothers. They caught them, looked down, and switched jumpers immediately. 

“Continue your dirty discussion girls,” Fred smiled. “I can’t wait to hear the details.”

“Unbelievable,” Ginny scoffed, continuing up the stairs before looking at Hermione with an apologetic smile.

“Thank you,” Hermione mouthed silently. She couldn’t believe how close they had come to telling the twins the truth, who might have had the most fun with the news. 

Ron and Harry, as the only residents of the house still asleep, were rudely awoken by Hermione and Ginny, who dropped the jumpers unceremoniously onto their sleeping faces. The boys groaned, although a kiss from Ginny made Harry’s morning a bit more pleasant. Ron wouldn’t have such luck, rolling off the bed in front of his friends and being laughed at from the start. 

“Merry Christmas to you lot, too,” he said, frustrated and still wrapped in his sheets. 

“We’ll see you both at breakfast,” Hermione laughed, turning to head back down the stairs. 

Hermione took the steps two at a time in order to avoid any more commentary from her friend about the previous night. Even with Fred and George downstairs by now, she couldn’t risk an Extendable Ear catching her off guard. Downstairs, everyone was loudly wishing one another Merry Christmas and chatting away. Molly attempted to corral everyone into a line up for a photo, declaring that not a single bite of breakfast would be eaten until the camera flashed. First, a photo of the Weasley sons, anchored by their parents was arranged. Percy, who had just walked in the door, was yanked out of his coat by his mother and pushed between George and Charlie. 

“Now, I don’t want any of you making any odd faces in this photo,” Molly looked at Fred and George with a glare. “And switch your jumpers back, right now.”

“Mum, I’m not Fred,” Fred, who was in George’s jumper, said with a whine. Angelina and Gabrielle laughed as Arthur just started, “Boys,” and the twins immediately switched jumpers. 

“Someday, I’ll put a jinx on these jumpers to shock anybody who wears the wrong one,” Molly muttered. Hermione, who was taking a sip of her cocoa, nearly spit it out, and Arthur looked at Percy and then immediately back at the camera. Nobody seemed to notice except Percy, who was obviously confused but resolved to ask later, smiling and offering a quick nod in Hermione’s direction before standing as tall as he could for the camera. 

“Say, ‘Christmas’!” Angelina said as she took the photo. A few more were taken, each with some slight variation - all the boys around Ginny, Arthur and Molly standing and all their children sitting, by height. Percy, who was only taller than Ron and Ginny, got stuck in the middle for almost every photo. 

Molly began calling for photos of each couple, with her and her husband going first with their two granddaughters. 

“Alright, line up. Bill and Fleur, take one with Victoire and Dominique, very good,” Arthur Weasley began directing traffic. “Fred and Angelina, George and Gabrielle - no, you have to have at least one separate photo, boys - Harry and Ginny.” 

Ron and Hermione leaned against the back wall, looking at the chaos unfold, with Hermione sneaking a glance over at Percy, who was holding the book from the previous night but not turning a single page. His eyes kept drifting up to Hermione, then shooting down as soon as they made eye contact. Hermione knew she shouldn’t be risking all these looks, or the family would get suspicious and start asking questions she wasn’t ready to answer. 

“Excellent idea, Ginny, get all the Quidditch captains together!” Arthur Weasley pulled Harry, Ginny, Angelina, and Charlie into a line and snapped a photo. Charlie stepped out for a second photo highlighting all those who had become professional Quidditch players.

“Let’s do prefects as well, we’ve got quite a few of those,” Arthur added. 

It was quite a crowd at the front, with half the room trying to squeeze into one frame. Molly and Arthur stood with Ginny on the ends. In between, Bill, Charlie and Ron filed into place and Percy stood next to Hermione, brushing her shoulder as he passed by. With Ron trying to move further in, Hermione welcomed the opportunity to push into Percy’s side. Once the flash of the camera shone, everyone relaxed and began jostling for the next photo of Head Boys and Girls. 

Percy winked at Hermione, pulling her to the center by her sleeve, a move that probably appeared totally innocent to the rest of the room. Bill went to Percy’s other side, and Gabrielle stood next to her. Arthur and Molly stood at either end, reminiscing for everyone about their year of being Head Boy and Girl in the 1960s. Percy couldn’t pay any attention, having heard all of the stories before and having Hermione so close to him that he could casually rub up against her without alarming anyone in the room. 

“Dad, do a Ministry photo with Percy and Hermione!” Ginny shouted, from the back of the room. “We can send it to Kingsley!”

Arthur looked at his daughter with his eyes wide, trying to come up with an explanation as to how he couldn’t take a photo and send it to his good friend, the current Minister of Magic. Percy, still blissfully unaware that his father knew, wrapped his arm around Arthur’s shoulders, which Arthur did in turn to Hermione. Hermione smiled, waiting for the camera to flash so she could escape the extreme discomfort of the moment. She would kill Ginny for this, she thought to herself.

With people complaining that the food would get cold, Molly called for a final group photo. Arthur couldn’t move away from Percy and Hermione quickly enough, and they were pushed right into one another. Dangerously, Percy put his arm around Hermione’s shoulders, not looking at her but smiling at the camera. Hermione put her arm around Harry to her left in order to deter any unwanted attention to Percy’s action. A few rows were made, but Molly and Arthur managed to get all their guests into one photo. As soon as that was done, everyone fled to the table, ready for breakfast. 

The food was delicious, Percy thought, knowing that nobody could cook as well as his mother. As much as he begrudged her demand yesterday, Muggle hot cocoa was far superior to magicked hot cocoa. Hermione was sitting next to him, and they slipped their hands together underneath the table whenever they had the chance, although they barely said a word to one another at the table, afraid of arousing suspicion. Hermione felt exhilarated breaking some unspoken rules and based on the number of times Percy squeezed her hand, he felt the same. 

Arthur and Ginny hazarded a few glances towards Percy and Hermione, but nothing appeared of interest from a distance, especially to an unknowing eye. Hermione dove into conversation with Gabrielle about a new potion she was developing at St. Mungo’s and odd patients she had encountered. Percy was generally known for being quiet at big family meals, but he engaged in conversation with Fleur to practice the little French he had started to learn in his work at the Ministry. Fleur complimented him, but noted that almost all of his vocabulary had to do with transportation. 

“C’est tout ce dont j’ai besoin,” Percy said. He struggled with the accent and pronounced far more letters than he needed to. 

The adults began handing around gifts, over a dozen per person. Ginny and Harry received early wedding favors, including a tiara that had been passed down through the Prewett family, causing everyone to shed a few tears. Harry gave out plenty of Quidditch tickets, both to his former team’s games and to the Holyhead Harpies. Angelina complained she couldn’t use the gift, as she was usually playing in the games herself. Fred and George handed around many pranks gifts, even offering extras if people promised to use them only for mischief. Molly frowned and told her sons they had surely been raised better than that before grabbing a few Daydream Charms. Percy was the only one not to receive an obvious prank gift, with a pin reading “Prefect.” Rolling his eyes, Percy clipped it onto his jacket, sure it would explode in his face at some point in the next few days.

Bill and Fleur brought French treats for everyone from their last trip across the Channel, while Molly and Arthur offered fudge, per the usual tradition. Percy had given out books, all inscribed with his reason for giving them. In what he felt was a very clever gift, he bought his mother a copy of Gilderoy Lockhart’s final book, signed with a scribble by the offer, as well as a catalog for new stoves. Hermione, too, purchased mostly books, including one for Percy about the history of trains in the Muggle world.

When he unwrapped the gift, he loved the idea of learning about a whole new form of transportation. After all, he realized he could build a connection between the Muggle and Wizarding World, and take better advantage of Platform 9 and ¾. There were a few other hidden platforms, but finding a way to make travel into the city easier would benefit everyone in the country, he knew. Hermione must have known he would have this reaction, Percy thought. His gift, which was an inscribed copy of Godric Gryffindor’s biography, wasn’t nearly as good. Now that they were together, maybe he’d get her a better gift. 

While his mind switched to that topic, he realized he still hadn’t said more than two words to Hermione since coming down that morning and they had so much to talk about. Looking for a way to get her attention and sneak away, Percy started walking towards the couch, where Hermione was stuck between Ron and Charlie. While he was walking, Molly announced they all had time to do what they wished until Christmas dinner at 3 p.m. She added that anybody who went up to their rooms would be expected to clean them thoroughly, as she would prefer everybody stay together for the holidays. 

Hermione caught his eye and stood up, excusing herself from the conversation to go use the bathroom. Percy waited a few minutes, emptied his hot cocoa mug into a nearby plant, and said he was going to get another cup to the nearest person, who happened to be Harry. Ginny smiled sweetly and held up her own mug, asking if he could refill hers as well. 

“Of course, Ginny,” Percy said, quickly taking her cup and shuffling away. He blushed remembering how Ginny had seen him in his underwear carrying Hermione’s bra only a few hours before and he couldn’t really refuse any of her requests at the moment. 


	7. Chapter 7

Walking around the corner, Percy whispered Hermione’s name, hoping she hadn’t actually needed to use the loo. “Hermione?” He whispered, looking into the empty bathroom. 

“Over here.” 

He turned and saw Hermione behind him, leaning against the pantry door. 

“Do you want to go into the pantry?” Percy asked. “I don’t think a locking charm would do much good when the door is see-through.”

“Let’s go outside,” Hermione said, walking towards the side door by the fridge. 

“Alright, but Ginny put me on a time limit. I said I was going to get hot cocoa.” 

“Everyone will start moving around soon, and I’m sure a Quidditch match will start up at some point,” Hermione replied. “I’m sure nobody will even notice that we’ve gone for that long.”

Percy shrugged and almost melted as Hermione grabbed his hand and led him out the door into the backyard. They took shelter behind a pine tree, in case anyone ventured out of the house in the few minutes they were gone. 

“Did you like your book?” Percy asked, feeling very stupid for starting their first conversation post-sex with a question about a biography of Godric Gryffindor. 

“It was a very nice gift, Percy, but I think there are more pressing topics when we only have a few minutes,” Hermione warned. 

He loved that Hermione could stay focused so well, especially when all he could think about was brushing a few pine needles out of her hair, or kissing her on the nose to keep her warm in the winter air, or pushing her up against the tree trunk and - No, he thought to himself, I need to stay focused. 

“Listen, Percy, about last night -” 

“Please don’t tell me you want to pretend nothing happened,” Percy said, very worried about losing somebody he had just confessed being in love with. “At least wait until after Christmas to say that.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” she laughed, grabbing his cheeks and kissing him. Percy leaned into the kiss, resting one hand on Hermione’s shoulder and the other on the branch above them. The trunk was only a few inches away, and he almost hoped somebody came outside and gave him an excuse to hide even deeper in the branches against the trunk. Who knew what would happen if they were stuck under there for a whole Quidditch match, Percy wondered. 

“I love you,” Hermione brought him back to reality. “I meant every word I said and I hope you did too.”

“Of course I did, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me.” 

“So where do we go from here?”

What was this? Percy thought to himself. Was it the Talk? Did couples actually have that? Thinking to his siblings’ relationships, they had just appeared as a serious couple one day, and it didn’t seem weird to him to do the same. 

“Well, I don’t recall you saying you were seeing anyone else, so I presume this is exclusive,” Percy said, knowing his clinical language was the only thing keeping him from ravaging Hermione under the pine tree. 

Hermione picked up on his tone and adopted a similar strategy, litigating out terminology. 

“So you would agree, we’re in a relationship as of last night.”

“Affirmative,” Percy stuttered out, still looking at how nice it was for Hermione to be this close to him again, kissing her lightly before continuing. “I suppose the next….addendum to our agreement should be the appropriate...terms for one another.” 

“Such as?” Hermione asked, stroking the back of Percy’s neck and admiring how a little bit of snow had fallen from a higher branch and dusted his hair which remained somewhat messy but far more put together than it had been when she left his bedroom. 

“I was thinking boyfriend and girlfriend for the immediate future, with the option to update that as...err...needed,” Percy shut his eyes, hoping that Hermione would agree with him.

“I am amenable to those terms,” she murmured into his ear, calling him her boyfriend and giving him near heart palpitations. 

“I’m glad to hear it, Miss Granger,” Percy smiled. 

Hermione shook her head, grinning back at him.

“I’m happy we’ve come to an agreement, Mr. Weasley. My...boyfriend.” 

Both of them leaned in at the same time, accidentally hitting their foreheads together. Undeterred, they made their way into a brief kiss that turned longer, and finally pushed them up against the tree as Hermione’s hands slipped underneath Percy’s jumper and his hands felt her body through her top. 

“Bloody hell,” a voice behind them said, causing both of them to freeze. Percy recognized the voice immediately, and he twisted around, trying to block Hermione from view. 


	8. Chapter 8

Bill Weasley was leaning on a shovel, watching his younger brother snog his apparent girlfriend, Hermione Granger. It wasn’t the younger brother he would have expected, he thought to himself, but he wasn’t exactly surprised. 

“Guess I owe Fleur five galleons. She guessed that something was up with you two last night, something about both of you being in the kitchen for one teacup,” Bill continued, turning around to head back into the house. 

“Bill, wait,” Percy tried not to shriek, but his voice came out much higher than it should have. Hermione brushed herself off, looked at Percy, at Bill, and back at Percy, before running inside and making hot cocoa to give to Ginny, offering the excuse that Percy had needed to speak with Bill and asked her to bring it. 

Bill stayed where he was and raised his eyebrows, waiting for Percy to continue. The eldest Weasley brother still had the signature red hair of his family, but wore it slightly longer, in a way all of the other brothers had tried to wear it but could never pull the look off quite as well. Percy remembered the failed attempt from before he went to Hogwarts, and had been sorely disappointed to find out his hair grew out, rather than down. 

“I’d prefer if you kept this between us,” Percy started, trying to find the right words. 

“Does Mum know?” Bill asked, smiling at the thought of rule-follower Percy keeping a secret from their parents. 

“No, and she’s not going to find out,” Percy said. “Not until I want her to.” 

“And if I were to tell her?”

“I would….” Percy thought through potential blackmail options, but found that Bill was one of the few people in his life he could never hold the upper hand over. It had been that way ever since they were kids, and he’d always looked up to Bill rather than trying to find a way to undermine him. “I’d really appreciate it if you would do me a favor and not tell anyone.”

“Can I tell Fleur?”

“Fine,” he muttered. “But tell her that nobody else knows.”

“I’m really the first to know?”

“Actually, Ginny saw us last night when Hermione went back downstairs,” Percy said before realizing that was far more information than Bill needed and was actually quite a weakness in this negotiation. As far as Bill knew, the kiss under the pine tree was the first indiscretion. 

“Last night?” Bill smiled widely, congratulating his younger brother and causing him to blush deeply. “How long have you two been-”

“We’ve been friends for a while, and decided last night that we were ready to begin a relationship,” Percy said, not looking at his brother at all. 

“And that decision followed a lengthy debate and listing of pros and cons, based on what I heard just now,” Bill chuckled. 

Percy, not knowing how much of that conversation Bill had heard, cautiously replied, “Something of that sort.”

“Do you promise not to say anything? I’ll do whatever you want, I just don’t want to embarrass Hermione.”

“Fine, it stays quiet for now. You shouldn’t have to worry about me asking for favors, but Ginny will hold this over you until you tell Mum. It is the ultimate blackmail, that the prodigal son is dating the surrogate daughter,” Bill laughed. “Now come help me shovel out the garage.” 

Percy followed Bill to the garage, and in only a few minutes, they managed to clear the few inches that had fallen in the past few days. It wasn’t as though their father needed to drive in or out of the garage, but it was a nice gesture to their parents to do a little chore like this around the holidays, especially given that their dad’s back wasn’t what it used to be. 

Bill had tried to needle a bit more information out of him, but didn’t get very far, as Percy just insisted the relationship was very new and they wanted to spend a bit more time together before telling the public, given the amount of attention on their family with three upcoming weddings. 

“There’s a difference between telling the public and telling Mum,” Bill noted.

“Are you so sure about that?” Percy asked, rolling his eyes and thinking of how much his mother loved to gossip. “The second she knows, we’ll be the front page of the Daily Prophet.”

“You’re no Harry Potter, mate, it’s page 4 at best.” 

Tossing a snowball at Bill, Percy retorted, “I’m the Deputy Head of Magical Transportation and she’s a rising reformer and a Deputy Head of her own, we’re important without the war.”

“Mhm,” Bill shrugged, clearly not believing Percy, but pelted him back with a few better-aimed and more compact snowballs that managed to knock Percy down. 

“Now I’m all wet!” Percy groaned. 

“Sounds like what Hermione was saying-”

Percy climbed to his feet and ran to tackle Bill, laughing as he did it. This was what telling your family about a relationship was supposed to feel like, he thought to himself. Maybe it would go well with everyone, as long as they didn’t get caught by every member of the family walking in. As he thought about it, he realized he was only slightly sure that only Ginny and Bill knew. Had Hermione also been keeping it a secret? He needed to ask her. 

Bill climbed back onto his feet and dusted off the snow. 

“You’re happy, though? That’s what’s important.”

He offered a hand to Percy, who nodded and accepted it. 

“That’s good then. Best of luck to you both.” 

Bill and Percy walked back inside together, changing the topic to Bill’s upcoming trip to France. He loved visiting Fleur’s family, but acknowledged his language skills had a long way to go.

“How’d you pick it up anyways?”

“I got a book.”

“Of course you did. Mind if I borrow it?” 

“I’ve actually got it up in my room, I’ll give it to you tomorrow, I’m actually done with it.”

“You’re the best, Perce,” Bill said, patting his brother on the back before going and rejoining his family. He whispered something in Fleur’s ear and she smiled, immediately looking at Percy. Percy smiled awkwardly back, realizing that Bill had just told another person about the relationship. Percy knew he needed to tell Hermione as soon as possible that another two people knew about them and he was tempted just to announce it to the room and deal with all the reactions immediately. 

Before he could find Hermione, Gabrielle and Angelina walked over to him.

“You’ve got to tell him about your dream, Gabrielle, he’ll find it hilarious.”

“I still think it actually happened, but Percy probably doesn’t want to talk about it,” Gabrielle replied, shaking her head. 

“Then we should ask him to either confirm or deny the existence of such an incident,” Angelina replied, thinking rationally about the best way to find out if Gabrielle had actually seen what she said. 

“I’m interested in whatever you’re talking about,” Percy began. Before he could add “but I’m busy at the moment,” Angelina jumped in with a response. 

“Were you in your boxers in the stairwell last night? Holding a piece of ladies undergarments?”

Percy froze. Gabrielle not only saw everything, but remembered everything. 

“You haven’t been sharing this dream with everyone have you?” Percy said with his best poker face, hoping Gabrielle actually believed it to be a dream and dismissed it. 

“We’ll tell you who we’ve told, but only if you tell us if it was real,” Gabrielle smartly replied, knowing it would force Percy to answer the question. 

Percy considered the consequences of claiming it was a dream. They didn’t see Hermione at all, or mention her knowing about the dream. If Hermione had told them about last night already, they wouldn’t have come off spouting some nonsense about dreams. 

“It did not happen,” Percy said, assuring himself the lie was worth it for now. 

“What didn’t happen?” Angelina smiled, just trying to force Percy to say “ladies undergarments” in a sentence.

Sighing, Percy answered as quietly as possible, “Gabrielle did not see me on the stairs in my boxers, holding a bra.”

The two women looked at one another, realizing the mistake Percy had made before he did. 

“I never said bra,” Gabrielle whispered back to him. “So it’s true.”

Percy opened his mouth to reply but nothing came out. His face flushed with color rapidly, and he glanced around looking for a place to run. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Percy muttered, avoiding their eyes.

“Percy, do you have a secret girlfriend?” Gabrielle asked, while Angelina asked, “Will Fred and George know what we’re talking about?” 

Percy looked directly at Angelina and begged her not to say anything, “Definitely do not ask Fred and George, because you know there doesn’t have to be a shred of truth for them to latch onto a piece of information. I’d never hear the end of it.”

“So, tell us, who is she?” Gabrielle asked, curious about who Percy was keeping a secret from his family and how her bra had ended up in his childhood bedroom. 

“I can’t tell you that,” he said, panicking as Angelina turned to call Fred and George over. “Seriously, I will, just not right now.” 

“When?” Angelina challenged him.

“Don’t make me deduct 50 points from Gryffindor,” Percy threatened. 

“You haven’t had that power in a decade, Weasley, spill the beans.” 

“Less than a decade, thank you very much.” Percy paused, trying to think of how he could get the duo to leave him alone. “I was sleepwalking last night, and…I...I am in a relationship. Her undergarments ended up in my luggage and I don’t know why I went into the hall with them. I don’t want to tell everyone yet, and I’d rather you find out in a family announcement than an interrogation.”

“If we guess who it is, will you tell us?” Gabrielle asked, already lining up potential names in her head. 

“I really can’t deal with this right now,” Percy complained. “I’m telling my brothers first, and I’m sure you’ll find out from there. Something only people with siblings would understand.”

“Wow, didn’t expect cruelty on Christmas Day,” Angelina mocked him. “We’re going to be your sisters soon, anyhow.”

“Then I’ll tell you in six months,” Percy replied, pushing past them. “Harry’ll know in two weeks.”


	9. Chapter 9

Percy wringed his hands as he traveled through the house, looking for Hermione to finish their conversation.Finally, Percy managed to sneak up the staircase to check Ginny’s bedroom for Hermione and only found his sister. 

“Have you seen Hermione?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Percy,” she shook her head. “Lost her already?” 

“I’m being serious.”

“She said she was going to take a walk to ‘admire the countryside’ or something. Probably looking for an excuse to see you,” Ginny replied. “I’m staying here until she gets back, because I’m supposedly out on this walk with her.”

“I owe you one,” Percy said, turning on his heel to run back down the stairs, ignoring Ginny’s response that she owed him a lot more than one. 

His father was standing at the bottom of the stairs when he made it down, catching Percy a bit off guard. 

“Dad, how’s it going?”

“Very well, son, very well,” Arthur said, trying to immediately walk away. 

“Is something going on?” Percy asked, concerned for why his father had been avoiding him all day. 

“I don’t know Percy, is something going on?”

Percy tried to remember if he’d seen his father anywhere around the pine tree earlier, but had no idea how his father would have found out, unless Bill broke his trust, which seemed incredibly unlikely. Or Hermione might have told him, but out of all the potential confidantes in the Weasley family, his father seemed less likely to be a choice. 

“Noooo,” Percy answered slowly. “I’m just…going for a walk.”

“Good to know,” Arthur nodded, still not making eye contact with his middle son.

Thinking it might just be his father acting like himself, Percy continued on, avoiding any other conversations he might be drawn into. Finally, he saw Hermione walking out the door and followed her closely. 

“Hermione,” he whispered. “It’s me.”

Walking behind her, but still at some distance, Percy looked around to see if anybody else was in the yard. He could see a few brooms whizzing through the air, probably starting a Quidditch match, but that was about it. 

“Ok,” Hermione whispered back, still facing forward. “Let’s head to the pond.”

Double checking to make sure nobody was following them, Percy stepped forward and took Hermione’s hand, bending down to obscure his face. Before she could pull away, he whispered, “At a distance, we probably pass for George and Gabrielle, with you wearing a hat, nobody will suspect a thing.”

Hermione doubted that they could really pass for George and Gabrielle, even at a distance, but was happy to be holding Percy’s hand again. Once they were in the safety of the trees, relatively dense even in the winter, Percy offered his arm like the gentleman he was. Hermione took it and rested her head against his shoulder as she walked. 

“How’s your day been?” She ventured into conversation.

“Exhausting, yours?”

“The same. Have you been trying to control Ginny, too? She’s asked me to do about a thousand favors for her today, just because she wants us to come clean.”

“I’ll try to get her to stop,” Percy offered, kissing Hermione’s hand while they continued down the path. “Do you think we should?”

“Tell everyone?”

“What’s so bad about it?”

“I don’t know,” Hermione frowned. “We have no idea how any of them will react. And I love you but we also just started dating. With the wedding coming up, and everyone here, I don’t want to get off on a bad foot.”

“But if it’s really bothering you, maybe we should,” Hermione added, squeezing Percy’s arm a little tighter. 

“I get what you mean,” Percy said, kicking a mound of snow as he went past it. “Already, people are getting suspicious and asking questions I don’t even know the answers to.”

“What do you mean?”

They had finally reached the pond, and Percy pulled out his wand and heated up the bench to melt the snow and dry the bench by its side. He let Hermione sit, and then sat down next to her, resting his hand on her lap. 

“Can I ask you who knows about us right now?” Percy asked. “We haven’t actually figured out how we’ll explain it when we do tell people.”

“Obviously, there’s Ginny,” Hermione started. “And your father has definitely figured it out by now.”

“My father?” Percy looked aghast. “How the hell does he know?”

Percy panicked, realizing his father had explicitly asked him about it when he was leaving the house, and knew his son was lying and hiding something. If his father had just suspected their relationship at the time, Percy’s lie probably confirmed it. 

“I ran into him last night while wearing your sweater,” Hermione winced. “Then this morning, your mother mentioned that you gave her my sweater.” 

“Oh God, do you think my mother knows?” Percy leaned back, letting his head hang over the back of the bench. 

“I think we would have heard the screams from here,” Hermione chuckled. “Whether she’d be happy about it, I don’t know.”

“Why wouldn’t she be happy for us?” Percy asked. 

“Well, I’m sure she imagines I’ll end up with Ron someday,” Hermione muttered, causing Percy to feel a pang of jealousy. Hermione, sensing the discomfort, added, “Which Ron and I find ridiculous. We’d be terrible for each other.”

“That’s obvious,” Percy replied, trying not to sound pompous. 

Hermione ignored the comment and continued, “Your mother probably won’t take kindly to me sneaking upstairs and fucking you in your childhood bedroom, either.”

“I seem to recall that I was an active participant in that fucking,” Percy smiled, leaning in to kiss Hermione’s cheek. 

“Yes, but you were at least in your own bedroom. I’m the one who broke the rules,” Hermione fretted. 

“Please, my mother loves you. She’ll be overjoyed. But I’m hesitant to say anything before the wedding in January, because she’ll probably make it the event’s subtitle. Harry and Ginny’s Wedding: The One Where the Boring Son Has a Date!” 

“You’re not boring,” Hermione snuggled into his side. “And Ginny did offer to make us a couple on the wedding documents. We’re already seated at the same table, and neither of us has a plus one.”

“Hm,” was Percy’s only response as he thought about how much he wanted to dance with Hermione at a wedding, and show off his girlfriend to everyone in his family. 

“If we’re listing people who know, I suppose we should add Bill,” Hermione said, blushing again. 

“And Fleur,” Percy muttered. Before Hermione could reply, he explained, “She apparently mentioned something last night, and Bill said she’d find out anyways.” 

“Bill talks in his sleep, so that’s a guarantee,” Percy joked. 

“Alright, so it’s Ginny, your father, Bill, and Fleur,” Hermione looked up at Percy. “And you should probably tell your father directly, I don’t think he can handle a conversation with either of us until it’s settled.” 

“Fine.” Percy looked around, hoping to change the topic to something a bit more romantic than their secret relationship. “You know, I always liked reading here when I was a kid.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah, Fred and George were always running around playing pranks on me, but I told them the pond was haunted and they’d go blind if they followed me here,” Percy laughed. “It worked for six years.” 

“That’s terrible,” Hermione shook her head and laughed, imagining a young Fred and George refusing to enter the woods behind their house based on a fake ghost story. 

“If you had brothers like Fred and George, you’d do the same,” Percy claimed, knowing he was absolutely right. He’d heard about the types of tricks Hermione played during her first few years at Hogwarts, right under his nose as prefect. He’d ask her for details someday, but it didn’t seem like the right time as Hermione turned to him and climbed onto his lap, kissing him.

“Sorry, I just felt the urge to kiss you right then,” Hermione said as she pulled away and went to sit beside him again. 

“You need to stop apologizing for kissing your boyfriend,” Percy growled, picking up Hermione and putting him on his lap again, kissing at the edge of her neckline. 

“Do you think your brothers still think the pond is haunted?”

“They’re playing Quidditch,” Percy whispered into her ear, already running his hands under her sweater and playing with her bra strap. “We’re definitely safe here.”

Hermione kissed Percy’s nose, then shut his eyes with her thumbs and kissed each eyelid. Percy’s eyes fluttered under her touch, and he captured her mouth in a passionate kiss. She opened her mouth slightly, and his tongue eased in, very gradually and very precisely. Just as he was dedicated to making sure his work was done properly, Percy Weasley was always certain to properly snog a girl he was in love with. 

Hermione wrapped her legs around his back, forcing his away from the back of the bench. His hands reached up her shirt, feeling her smooth stomach and rubbing circles into her lower back. She whispered about removing their clothes again, but he muttered it was too cold and said they’d find another way. 

“Is it alright if I transfigure your clothing?” Percy licked his lips as he pulled away from Hermione. 

“As long as you remember to change it back.”

“Deal,” Percy replied, turning around and placing Hermione back down onto the bench and pulling his wand out. He changed her pants into a very warm and comfortable looking skirt, and made sure to lengthen her socks up to her knees to keep her as warm as possible. 

“Where did you learn to transfigure a girl’s skirt?”

“Professor McGonagall,” Percy replied, before looking up at her, embarrassed. “Not like that, she just tested me on all types of cloth, not necessarily clothing.” 

“New rule,” Hermione laughed. “No mentioning Hogwarts professors when we’re having sex.”

Percy attempted to get back into the mood, holding Hermione’s hips and looking up at her admiringly. “Remember that Christmas gift I offered this morning?” He murmured, kissing Hermione’s knees and moving up her thighs. 

“Mhm,” Hermione moaned softly, running her fingers through Percy’s hair and letting it slip between her fingers. 

“Are you still interested?”

“It’s still Christmas, isn’t it?” 

Percy laughed and leaned forward, burying his face between Hermione’s legs and causing her to pant his name. She was gripping the sides of the bench as Percy tongued and kissed little moans and squeals out of his girlfriend, occasionally pausing to tell her how sexy she was and how, if it wasn’t so cold, he would fuck her here and now. 

In a third floor bedroom at the Burrow, Fred Weasley yanked earphones off his head and shouted, his voice cracking, “Hey Georgie?” 

“Yeah, Freddie?” George replied, still bouncing a rubber ball off the ceiling and trying to catch it again. 

“Remember that fake Prefect badge we gave Percy? The test one to see if you could spy on your prefects?” 

“It’s working isn’t it?” George said excitedly, reaching for the headphones. “Can I have a listen?”

“No!” Fred grabbed the earphones back and shoved them into a desk drawer. “It’s working, it’s just...boring Ministry talk. Nothing exciting.” 

“Aw, lame,” George said as he walked back over to his bed and fell onto it. “I was hoping for something good. We should have given one to Dad, I bet we would have found out all sorts of weird stuff.” 

Fred looked at the headphones and muted them, thinking about what he would say to Percy when he showed up back at the house. For once, Fred Weasley was speechless.


	10. Chapter 10

Once he transfigured back her clothing, Percy tried to lift Hermione off the bench and carry her back on the walk. However, he hit a patch of particularly wet snow and fell down to the ground, giggling relentlessly. They kissed a few times more, saying things they loved about one another and imagining how everyone at work would react when they did their next Friday lunch hand-in-hand at a fine restaurant. Eventually, Hermione admitted she felt a bit guilty leaving Ginny hiding in her room on Christmas. 

“Oh please, she’s probably got Harry in there by now, or she’s out on the Quidditch pitch.”

“How would she get Harry to stay in her room without telling him about us?” Hermione worried, thinking about how her best friend might feel betrayed at her hiding a relationship from him. 

“How any woman gets a man to stay in a bedroom with her,” he whispered in a tone that was probably intended to sound seductive but came out sounding very silly and over-the-top. 

Hermione kissed him a final time, then rolled over and tried to stand up, assisted by Percy. 

“Let’s head back,” Hermione suggested. “Maybe we can split up who we’re telling now, and later.”

“Always a great topic,” Percy said. “I’ll take my dad, and I’d assume you’d want me to take my brothers. Except for Ron, of course.” 

“So, I should tell Harry and Ron,” Hermione started. “Probably Gabrielle and Angelina, too. I’ll advise them to keep it on the downlow until after the wedding, but this way we don’t have to sneak around as much.”

“Wait, we’re doing this today?” Percy asked, a bit confused. 

“Not necessarily,” she grew more nervous. “It’s all so new, Percy. I don’t know what to say to all this.” 

“I know,” Percy replied. “I don’t want to rush things in case it builds…expectations.” 

“Exactly.”

“So I’ll just mention it to my father, and hope he doesn’t insist I tell my mother,” Percy finished the conversation and kissed Hermione’s hand. “We hold off on...any more...entanglements until we are out of my parents’ house and only reconvene if something new occurs.”

“Wonderful,” Hermione smiled. “Did I mention how much I love being with you?” 

As they got closer to the house, Percy began to let Hermione get further and further ahead until he snuck off a side path near the house. He saw Ginny in the backyard, intercepting Hermione and bringing her inside, and he knew that he’d definitely be owing Ginny quite a bit in the next few weeks. 

“Dad!” Percy was caught off guard again as he exited the woods and saw his father and Bill passing in front of him. 

“Percy,” his father said, very reserved and glancing past him down the trail. 

“Did you slip, Percy?” Bill asked, eyeing him suspiciously. 

“A bit, why?” 

“Your cheeks are quite red,” he observed. “And your hair isn’t as neat as it was earlier.”

His father stiffened and looked away, suggesting that Percy go inside and get himself ready for dinner. 

“Actually, Dad, I was hoping to talk to you if it wasn’t too much trouble.” 

Bill made an excuse that he had a question for his wife, despite Arthur’s pleas that he stay and continue their conversation. Arthur sighed as he watched his only escape walk back towards the house. Turning back to face his son, he saw a nervous smile on his face waiting for Arthur to give him permission to start talking. 

“I suppose we should talk,” Arthur said with caution. “But let’s go to the shed. And God, Percy, fix your hair.”

Percy tried to slick down his hair as they walked into his father’s shed. Stepping over a bunch of half-finished projects combining Muggle and wizard technology, Percy settled down in one of the fold-out chairs his father had snuck out here, waiting for his father to sit on the other one.

“Now, you know you boys can always come to me with anything,” Arthur tugged at his collar as he spoke, finally meeting his son’s eyes. “Even on Christmas.”

“I know, Dad,” Percy began. “I have something I want to tell you.”

“Mhm,” his father replied. 

“And I sort of lied to you earlier when you asked if something was up, because it is,” Percy continued. 

“Lying is...typically very bad. But there are some things that don’t need to be shared with everybody,” Arthur interjected, trying to offer advice while also hoping that Percy would just stop talking and release them both from the conversation. 

“I’ll cut to the chase,” Percy said. “Hermione and I are dating, but I think you already knew.”

“Congratulations,” Arthur said. “I’m happy you’ve found somebody.”

“Not just somebody, Dad, it’s Hermione. You can understand why we didn’t want to shout it from the rooftops.”

“I see.” 

“You don’t have anything else to say?” Percy was a bit frustrated with his father, hoping for any reaction, not just a shrug. After all, he hadn’t had a girlfriend in years, and this was a girl his parents knew and loved. He didn’t need his father’s approval, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want it. 

“What do you want me to say, Perce? That you should tell your mother, because if she finds out you hid this from her it will break her heart? That I’ve had to walk around all day with knowledge I couldn’t even confirm because it would mean asking you about your personal affairs? That you and Hermione are probably very good for one another but it’s very strange for me to know that two people I see as children are sneaking around at night and ...and...canoodling?”

“Canoodling?” Percy laughed, much to his father’s irritation. 

“It’s a valid word, Percy, and I don’t want to use any sort of synonym,” Arthur continued. Looking down at his shoes, Arthur said quietly, “I trust you’re using protection and being safe.”

“Yes,” Percy responded, also refusing to meet his father’s eyes. “And I’ll tell Mum, I just don’t want to disrupt the planning for the wedding. And I’m 26, Dad, she’s 23. You don’t seem to make much of a fuss of Ginny getting married at 21.”

“Trust me, that disturbs me just as much,” Arthur shook his head. “You’re all so young, at least Bill waited until he was old enough to settle down.” 

“You mean when he was 26 and his wife was 21,” Percy responded. 

“Touché.” Arthur stood up and patted his son’s shoulder, asking if he had anything else to add. 

“Could I ask advice?”

“I suppose.”

“Do you think I should tell Kingsley?”

“The Minister of Magic, Perce?”

“Well, what if I’m supposed to report my relationship to my superiors?”

“Percy, that’s really what’s on your mind right now?”

“Forget I asked!”

Arthur laughed, “Sorry, I just thought your questions would be of a more...emotional nature.” 

“I didn’t think you could handle an emotional question, considering you’ve wanted to get out of the room for the entire conversation thus far.”

Arthur shrugged and added, “You boys don’t realize I’ve stayed with your mother for over 30 years now. I know what relationships are like.”

“I’ll definitely come to you if I have questions then,” Percy replied. 

“I look forward to it,” Arthur said. “As soon as you tell your mother.”

“Fine,” Percy groaned, walking out of the shed with his father and back into the house. 

After he entered, he saw Hermione look at him from across the room in a slight panic as Angelina and Gabrielle dragged her up the stairs into Ginny’s room. He supposed he would hear about that later. 


	11. Chapter 11

After seeing Hermione pulled away, Percy had been downstairs for a while, talking with his family about a few renovations he was doing in his apartment and other relatively uninteresting things. Harry was asked to go remind the girls that dinner was coming soon. 

“Mum told me to go get Fred and George from their room, and I figured, no big deal, they’re probably playing some kind of a prank at dinner and I can thwart it.”

When Percy knocked on the door, Fred had opened it and immediately slammed it in his face. Percy had knocked again, annoyed with his younger brother hadn’t even let him get a word out. 

“Fred,” Percy knocked repeatedly. “Let me in, Mum sent me up.”

George opened it the second time, glancing back at Fred who was standing and facing the wall on the other side of the room. 

“What did you say to Fred earlier?” George whispered. “He’s been acting all funny whenever we mention you.”

Percy told Hermione that he had no idea what George was talking about, since he’d barely spoken to Fred all day, having spent his time sneaking around the Burrow or spending time with Hermione. 

“Fred won’t talk to me? An unusually good Christmas,” he laughed. 

Percy shrugged and walked into the bedroom, ignoring Fred’s strange behavior. 

“Mum wants you to know that dinner is going to be ready soon. I’d suggest cleaning up a bit,” Percy looked around the room at the unmade beds and scattered papers. “But that’s your prerogative.”

As Percy turned to leave, Fred finally spoke up in a high and strange voice. 

“Shut the door, mate, we’ve got to talk.”

Percy, too curious for his own good, shrugged, shut the door, and sat down on the edge of the bed. 

“What?”

“Your badge, give it here.”

“Fred,” George whispered, “it hasn’t even been a day.”

“I don’t care,” Fred shook his head, holding out his hand for the mock Prefect badge they’d given Percy for Christmas. 

“I expect a refund,” Percy laughed, surprised Fred didn’t respond and just took the badge from his hand. Popping it open Fred revealed a small microphone inside the badge. 

“We’re designing new products for listening in on conversations,” Fred explained. “And we thought it would be neat if students at Hogwarts could trick their prefects into revealing embarrassing information.”

“That’s illegal, you idiots,” Percy glared at his brothers. “What if I’d worn that to work? It would have been worn during top secret, Ministry meetings and gotten me fired and you two arrested.”

“We knew you were enough of a git to wear it around the house, but not to work,” George added in. George was sitting on the other side of the bed, and Percy could tell he hadn’t expected this conversation, especially if it was going to just get them a lecture. 

“So why are you telling me?” Percy asked, feeling the entire conversation was a waste of his time. 

“We were testing it, mate. I checked on it this afternoon to see if the microphone worked.” Fred sat down on the other bed, folding his hands and looking past Percy.

“You were both listening,” Percy’s jaw tightened as he realized what he’d spent most of the afternoon talking about. 

“Just Fred,” George answered. “Wait, did you lie about the Ministry stuff? Did Percy say something good?”

“You know,” Percy said, looking directly at Fred, who was still avoiding his eye. 

“You mentioned a Christmas present, and I thought, well that’s neat, Percy bought someone more presents than the rest of us,” Fred began, his voice almost hollow as he recollected the conversation. “Then…you know what I’m talking about.”

“I...recall that conversation.” 

“Mate, who the fuck was with you? I couldn’t exactly get her voice from those noises but it was definitely you and you were definitely…” Fred moved his hands in an obscene manner and George laughed while Percy groaned and put his head in his hands. 

“This is why you don’t listen in on people’s private conversations,” Percy tried to lecture again, but was too embarrassed to continue. “Nothing good will come of it.”

“Look, I know it wasn’t Angelina, it didn’t sound like her,” Fred shook his head. George was still giggling too much to contribute to the conversation. 

“Thanks, I didn’t need to know that,” Percy left his mouth slightly open and looked at Fred with disgust in his expression. 

“If you promise you’re not having an affair with one of your brothers’ wives or fiancees, I’ll drop it,” Fred said, biting his tongue between his teeth. “I’ll pretend it never happened and we can go on with our lives.” 

“I can’t promise not to mention this again,” George giggled. “Wait, did you just say fiancees? You were actually having sex this afternoon? It couldn’t be Gabrielle, she was playing Quidditch almost all day with us. I swear, if it’s Gabrielle I will end you -” 

“I’m not fucking your girlfriends,” Percy shouted. “Or Fleur, for that matter. I wouldn’t do that, I’m your brother.” 

“Thank god,” Fred relaxed, leaning back on his bed. “If only you could obliviate my memory so I never had to hear any of that recording. Mate, it was absolutely disgusting, you could hear every noise.”

“You didn’t keep the recording, did you?” Percy said, his expression going darker as he looked over at the twins’ desk. 

“No, it was all live stuff,” George said. “Hang on, who were you with then when Freddie heard you...getting your Christmas present?”

“Giving,” Fred piped up before both twins burst out laughing. 

“My girlfriend,” Percy tried to get them to shut up. “And you’re lucky I don’t Obliviate you, I might make an exception to the law and do it to the both of you.”

“You’re not threatening to tell Mum because she doesn’t know, does she?” Fred asked. “You haven’t told her.”

“Not yet,” Percy admitted. “Look, I’m leaving.”

“We’re gonna find out sooner or later, Percy,” George said. “You might as well tell us the lucky woman’s name. Do we know her?”

“Of course we know her,” Fred said with delight. “He wouldn’t be so secretive if we didn’t.”

“C’mon, Perce, we’ll have to ask Ginny and we both know who her favorite brothers are. Or we’ll just ask at dinner and see who knows,” George winked. “You had an accomplice somewhere in the house if you managed to cover up a secret rendezvous.”

“Tell us,” George pulled Percy back over and messed up his hair while Fred poked at his sides. Percy managed to wriggle free and smoothed down his hair as he marched to the door. 

Percy took a deep breath and looked between the two ginger twins who had very red faces from laughing too hard. 

“This stays between us.”

“Promise,” the twins said together.

“And you don’t mention it at dinner, or to mum, or to anybody, including Angelina and Gabrielle.”

“We swear. Just tell us her name,” Fred nodded eagerly. 

“Hermione Granger.”

Fred and George’s jaws dropped and they looked at one another as they took deep breaths to continue the conversation. 

With that, Percy shut the door behind him and saw his girlfriend coming down the stairs. The laughter in the room behind him died down after a few cheers of “Good old Percy!” and “The Master!” When Percy finished telling Hermione the story, she blushed and felt mortified that Fred had apparently listened to her orgasm in the woods. She supposed it was fortunate that no recording still existed, and that Fred was unlikely to ever mention it to her in his life. 

“So that’s two more people who know,” Percy said. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know about the badge.”

“Oh, I’m not angry with you at all. But there will be some hexes on the twins tomorrow morning.”

“Good.”

They kissed before leaving the room, and as tempting as it was to just get into the bed and go at it, Hermione and Percy both knew they could not risk being late for dinner on Christmas Day. 


	12. Chapter 12

Downstairs, Molly Weasley was in her prime, levitating wonderful and delicious dishes down the table. The seating arrangements were immaculate, she thought, organizing everyone by age and interests. Of course, Victoire and Dominique were still with their parents, but her children would be well integrated with their partners, but still in a position to talk with one another. In fact, it almost consistently alternated between a Weasley and non-Weasley once you were past Bill, something that had taken her several hours to figure out. She began calling for everyone to fill into their seats, and was happy to see the twins, Hermione, and Percy finally appear and take their seats, all nearby one another. She was surprised to see Hermione as the last person to join the table, as most Christmases, she had been in the living room the whole day. It was good she went out, Molly thought, given how nice the weather was. 

Everyone complimented her on her fine cooking, and Molly felt the best Christmas gift of all was just having her friends and family around her. If only there were more grandkids, she thought, satisfied with how many weddings she would be able to help plan in the next year. 

Further down at the table, Hermione was actually relieved everyone knew she and Percy were dating. Almost everyone that is, she thought, glancing at Charlie Weasley next to her. As far as she knew, the dragon tamer had been playing Quidditch the entire day and hadn’t spoken to anyone involved in the whole affair until dinner. So, they didn’t discuss their relationship over dinner, but once in a while, she dared to look across the table at Percy, who was grinning like an idiot, and start talking to him like she always did, not trying to hide anything. 

She even got a few words out of Fred, who was still avoiding her eye, but was interested in talking about his use of a “ring bear” at his wedding that summer, rather than a “ring bearer.” 

“I’ve got a friend at a zoo who said he could hook me up,” Fred explained. “I’ve got a few videotapes of the bear at other weddings, I’ve been meaning to show them to Angelina.”

“That’s great, Fred, you’ll have to show me the recording.”

George’s fork fell from his hand and he began coughing on his food, so Gabrielle had to hit his back a few times until he stopped coughing. Fred immediately looked back down on his plate, finding his peas suddenly very interesting. Hermione spoke with Ron about a strategy for Wizard’s Chess, promising to play him later, and told Ginny that she would talk to her about bridesmaid’s dresses before the New Year. It was a fun but relaxing dinner, something that might not have happened if everyone hadn’t found out where Hermione had been the night before. 

The only hiccup was when Charlie, who had been talking to his nieces for most of the night, turned to Percy and whispered, “Mate, Hermione’s feet are next to mine. I’m not your girlfriend.” 

Percy turned bright red, immediately pulling his feet back under his chair and looking at Hermione, mouthing, “Did you tell him?” 

Hermione shook her head, and stifled a laugh at Percy’s embarrassment. Charlie leaned over and offered an explanation, “Silencing Charms can run out after a few hours. And you both snore. So does Ginny. Simple math.”

Apparently, Charlie Weasley had been the first one to figure it out and had the calmest reaction to their relationship out of everyone at the table. Percy and Hermione just laughed, knowing there was no reason to question Charlie any further. 

After some time, all the plates were cleared and the table receded to its original size. All the guests milled around in the living room and discussed their vacation plans, with Hermione joining her parents the next morning and most of the couples traveling home the next day as well. Ginny whispered that she expected Hermione to be in their room shortly before wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and heading to bed. As they passed through the living room, some couples noticed the mistletoe and shared a quick smooch. Percy knew Hermione probably wouldn’t head to his room again when so many people were watching, including his father, but tried to have as vague a conversation about meeting up again as he could.

“So you’ll be back in London...on the 28th?”

“That morning, yeah.”

“If it’s not too much trouble, I could take you to lunch. Save you a grocery shopping trip and all.”

“Sure, meet at my flat? Around one?”

“Sounds great.” Percy smiled, and announced he was heading to bed, stretching his arms and walking towards the stairs. Hermione, who was the only person left in the kitchen besides Molly, Arthur, and a few of their friends, said she didn’t want to risk waking up Ginny too late and she might as well head to bed too, after such a long day. When she passed under the archway, Molly Weasley shouted their names and both stopped, perplexed by the disruption. 

“You’re under the mistletoe, Percy, play along with tradition for once,” Molly asked. “Hermione, you don’t mind? Just a peck on the cheek, make me feel like you care about Christmas.”

Everyone else in the room suddenly became very aware of the tension and Arthur Weasley stared at his wife, trying to figure out what she knew. Percy smiled at Hermione with a slight fear in his eyes, before leaning in and kissing her cheek very lightly and pulling away. 

“Merry Christmas,” he said gruffly to everyone in the room before sneaking away up the stairs. 

Hermione smiled at everyone and wished them a good night before going to bed in Ginny’s room, thinking about how much had changed since she’d last gone to sleep. What would the next day bring?

“Really, Molly, I had no idea you’d say that,” Arthur laughed at the table. 

“What? They’re friends, nothing wrong with a tradition. No need to make such a big deal over it, see?” Molly grabbed Harry by the shoulder and dragged him to the mistletoe, kissing him on the cheek. Harry laughed and thanked her before sitting with the twins to discuss his investment plan again. 

“Ah,” Arthur said, realizing his wife’s intentions had been completely innocent and resolved to say nothing more of it for now. By midnight, 24 hours after Percy and Hermione shared their first kiss, everyone was in bed, thinking about the people they loved and what the New Year might bring. 


	13. Chapter 13

Breakfast was rushed, with everyone carrying luggage downstairs and Apparating out, taking the Floo, or finding a Portkey. Hermione was gone by the time Percy woke up, but she apparently had told Molly to tell “all of her sons” to have a nice final week of the year until she saw them again. 

A few days later, Percy showed up at Hermione’s flat with flowers in hand. She thanked him and they went out for a very pleasant meal at a nicer restaurant that Hermione ever would have chosen. The date was easy and their transition from friends to lovers continued at a steady and enjoyable rate. They saw a film after, with Percy whispering that he was amazed Muggles had also mastered moving pictures, even if it was centuries after wizards had done it and they weren’t actually magical. It was something about Percy that continued to puzzle her - how somebody so intelligent was still so unfamiliar with the Muggle world. She was sure he must be entertained by her occasional amazement at old Wizarding traditions, especially given his habit of just making one up and trying to pass it off as real. 

On New Year’s Eve, they met in Percy’s flat, celebrating a week together and several years of worthwhile friendship. 

“A status which I hope we will never return to,” Percy toasted to, holding up his glass of champagne. 

“A status which I hope we will continue,” Hermione smiled, holding up her own glass. 

They made it through the champagne rather quickly, and found themselves a giggling mess, having not eaten dinner before indulging in their drinks. In between snogging sessions and playing cards, Percy pointed out they still hadn’t told his mother about their relationship. 

“The wedding is in a week, and I told Ginny we wanted to sit together. She said to ask Mum to change the seating arrangements, apparently she’s on them.” Percy’s words were slurred and he accidentally dropped his champagne flute, cleaning up the spill with a quick wave of the wand.

“We’d best,” Hermione hiccuped, “do something about that.”

“I’ll take care of it right now,” Percy announced.

He grabbed a piece of parchment and marched over to his desk, wearing only black boxers and a mostly-unbuttoned white collared shirt. Hermione laughed at the site of her very serious boyfriend drafting a letter in a state of almost total undress. 

“Dear Mother,” Percy began orating the letter. “Happy New Year! This is your son, Percy Weasley.”

“I think she knows who you are, Perce,” Hermione said. 

Ignoring her, Percy continued, “Ginevra has informed me that you are in charge of the seating arrangements for her wedding. I apologize for the delayed notice, but I formally request a seat next to my girlfriend at this event. I should also inform you that I am dating Miss Hermione Jean Granger. Thank you kindly.” 

“What is she going to think when she reads this?” Hermione asked, still hazy from the champagne. 

“That her son is very lucky,” Percy smiled. He signed, “Sincerely, Percy Ignatius Weasley. Please forward any questions to the address below.” With his careful penmanship, Percy filled in his own address and blew on the letter to help it dry. 

“Where is Hermes?” Percy stumbled through his flat before finding the small, brown bird in its cage. 

He sealed the envelope and gave it to the bird, addressing it to the Burrow. 

“She knows,” Percy declared. “And I shall dance with the prettiest girl at the wedding next week.”

“That’s wonderful, Percy. Now come to bed, it’s almost midnight.”

“I suppose you will be needing a midnight kiss, Miss Granger.”

“How many times do I have to-”

Percy kissed her, cutting off her sentence, and they continued snogging into the new year. After a bit more than snogging, they woke up the next morning to Hermes bursting through the window and chirping away. Hermione groaned, pulling away from Percy’s side and reaching for the letter. 

“Shit.” 

She thought about elbowing Percy awake, but decided to give him a small surprise to start his year with, sliding underneath the covers and putting her mouth to work. Waking up, Percy moaned and ran his fingers through Hermione’s thick, curly brown hair, amazed at the woman he was with. Her name echoed the whole flat, and she worried about waking the neighbors when Percy finally finished, thanking her profusely. 

“Why’d you wake me up?” Percy asked, stroking the sides of her face. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“We have a response,” Hermione said, pointing at the unopened letter on the bedside table. It was a dark red envelope that was smoking slightly. “It must be from your mother.”

“It’s a Howler,” Percy frowned. “She’s never sent me one in my life. I don’t even remember what I wrote her that was so bad.”

“I have some idea,” Hermione replied. “You don’t remember writing any letters last night?”

“No, I-” Percy paused, looking over at his quill and parchment. “Oh, that might be it.”

“Guess we’d better open it,” Hermione replied. “Would you like to do the honors?”

They held hands as Percy reached for the letter and undid the seal, only for his mother’s screaming voice to fill the entire room. 

“PERCY WEASLEY!” the letter floated above the bed, facing Percy who was already wide-eyed and sitting up straight. It screamed about deceit and lying and putting his father in a position to make up fake stories, even adding, “AND HERMIONE HAD BETTER NOT BE THERE AS YOU’RE HEARING THIS, BECAUSE I WILL HAVE WORDS FOR HER AS WELL. Not that you aren’t a fine couple, Percy, because you are, but on Christmas Eve? At my HOME? Your father was ASHAMED to tell me, HE COULDN’T EVEN FIND THE WORDS! I HAD TO INTERROGATE ALL OF YOUR BROTHERS AND YOUR SISTER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT TO FIND THE ANSWERS I WANTED!”

Percy and Hermione broke down laughing, imagining midnight letters sent to all the members of the Weasley family about the secret romance. 

“Imagine if we’d told her in person, and she wasn’t the first one to know,” Percy laughed. 

“That’s it then,” Hermione kissed Percy lightly. “Everyone knows.”

“I guess that makes us official. As in, very official. More official than we were when we became official.” He kissed her in return. 

It was very late in the morning when they finally got out of bed and drafted a reply to Molly Weasley. 

“Thank you for adjusting the seating. We apologize for any inconvenience and wish you a pleasant New Year.”

“That’s it, then,” Hermione kissed her boyfriend, pulling on the white-collared shirt he had disposed of the night before and walking over to his kitchen. “If your mother’s aware, this is a serious relationship.” 

“Can’t escape now,” Percy swooped around her, kissing the side of her neck and running his hands along her hips. “Stuck with me.”

“Oh, that’s just terrible,” Hermione giggled, hopping up on the counter and wrapping her legs around Percy’s waist. “What a strange position to be in.”

“Indeed,” Percy nuzzled his face into her collarbone, nipping lightly as he pushed the shirt off her shoulders. “What a strange position.” 

The New Year was off to a good start. 


End file.
